Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) today introduced legislation that would phase out private security contractors in war zones.
The legislation recognizes that the United States increasingly has relied on private contractors to wage our wars, wasting taxpayer money, damaging military morale and hurting our reputation around the world.
There are 155,000 contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan today, but only 145,000 uniformed service members.
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[...] By some estimates, every position converted from a private contract to federal employment saves on average $44,000 per year.
Check my arithmetic, but that sounds like about $7B savings per year to get rid of mercs. Plus the bill gets rid of mercs, whom I detest.
Too bad this bill will be buried by merc lobbyists and won't go anywhere, but thanks anyway to Bernie and Jan.
2 comments:
Obama better hope Bernie doesn't run in a primary against him. Bernie'll get my vote.
Not to mention: where would they get 155k new soldiers??? I don't see hordes of graduates eager to get a free middle east tour between HS and college.
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